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I put together a few photographs from my recent trip to Finca El Puente in Marcala, Honduras, where the Caballero-Herrera family continues the quest to continue improving one of Central America's most celebrated coffees. The floral aromas wafting from a hot cup of the farm's coffee may be but a distant memory for you so many months after we sold out of last year's lot, but here in the Coffee Department, Moisés and Marysabel are much on our minds these days because January and February represent the peak of the harvest at Finca El Puente, as well as in most of the northern hemisphere's coffee-growing regions, and we're anxious to see what this year brings.

We have worked with Finca El Puente since 2006. Peter and I made our first trip to meet Marysabel, Moisés, and their family in the spring of 2007 on an exhilarating trip. Looking back, I can't believe that we were able to fit as many sights and activities into the few days we spent with them as we did, but it's consistent with my experiences across countries and relationships that the first visit is a whirlwind of activity – so much to see and it's all so new! – that barely fits into the days allotted.

Conversation we have time for ends up taking place in the car between activities or on the way to the airport, and only on subsequent visits can everyone – farmers and producer relations managers alike – relax enough to spend time just sitting and talking. These discussion-heavy visits are more difficult for me to describe enthusiastically than the first glimpse of a waterfall or the discovery of an unexpected coffee variety, but they are undoubtedly a more valuable feature of my travel and of this company's business model than anything I could capture on the first visit.

I had a lot to talk about this year with Moisés and Marysabel, not so much in terms of Finca El Puente's coffee quality, which we expect will be better than ever, but rather because recent volatility in the coffee commodity market continues to have us all puzzled. How will record-breaking high prices affect costs of individual farmers? Will fair trade co-operatives be able to convince farmers to stand by their commitment to quality even in the face of easy money from local buyers?

We're on pins and needles as we wait to see how much coffee is available and how it tastes, and from farmer to buyer, everywhere I look I see the same mix of curiosity, anxiety, and frustration at how the beyond-our-control factors of the market impact our ability to do our work well.

Lest I set you all a-worrying, let me explain that I bring up the market's instability in order to give an explicit example of why long-term relationships like the one we have Finca El Puente are valuable for all of us: because real sustainability means knowing, as a grower, that your buyer is committed to your coffee no matter how cheap coffee might be in other coffee-growing countries or regions. Likewise, real sustainability means knowing, as a buyer, that you'll get the same great coffee from the growers you trust, no matter how easy it might to sell that coffee elsewhere for a lot less effort.

The best moment of my trip occurred mid-morning on my third day at the farm as I sat at the dining room table in the middle of a long discussion about prices, hopes, and expectations with Marysabel, Moisés, and Fabio and I suddenly realized that the conversation we were struggling through could never have happened on the trip I made in 2007. The four years and four visits since then have made it possible to arrive at that point, and I felt so thankful for each one of them.

I couldn't capture that experience on film, unlike that of seeing a waterfall (which is still breathtaking, even after you've seen it three years in a row, mind you), but for me, that dining-table moment will be as important to the experience of enjoying Finca El Puente's delicious coffee in 2011 as the information about coffee variety, altitude, climate, and processing methods that I collected the first time I visited.

I split a week between Finca Pashapa and Finca El Puente (photo set forthcoming!) in November on an early-harvest, relationship-strengthening trip to see two of my favorite farms and families. Honduras has been in the news a lot more often recently than when I began traveling there four years ago, beginning with the ousting of President Mel Zelaya (in his pajamas, as the story goes) in June of 2009, continuing through controversial elections, and an unusual frequency of violence (in particular, against journalists) in the months since then. All of the political instability that makes the news here at home feels completely unrelated to life in the communities of La Labor and Marcala – hours and worlds apart from Tegucigalpa and the world of coffee farming – so I headed south with the same high hopes as always, headlines be damned.

Would you believe me if I told you that everything about these coffees, farms, and relationships just keep getting better? How is that possible? Is it magic? Nope, it's hard work and lots and lots of practice. Take Finca Pashapa, for example, which is a family operation in the fullest sense of the term: the four siblings of the Salazar family, among them "worm guy" Roberto, divide and conquer the day-to-day tasks of the family's farm, from milking cows and collecting eggs to weighing each day's coffee harvest and paying pickers accordingly, while their parents, Coyo and Jorge, preside over the house and keep the operation running. I idealize Finca Pashapa for its long-time commitment to organic certification, its independence from commercial farming inputs (meaning they make all of their farm's compost and fertilizer out of their own materials, like manure), and the integration of the Salazar family, which owns the largest farm in town, with the surrounding community, but they work incredibly hard every day to make my vision a reality.

After this many years (this will be 10 between Counter Culture and Finca Pashapa!), I'm happy to endure Roberto's teasing as I wax poetic about environmental sustainability and beseech him to share his farm's experiences with other growers. I have tried to organize farmer exchanges between Finca Pashapa and Finca Mauritania, and between Finca Pashapa and Finca Esperanza Verde because I believe that the Salazar family's model for organic production embodies real sustainability – environmental, social, and fiscal – better than any farm I have seen and that is an incredibly valuable example to share! But, as I mentioned before, that success comes at the price of hard work, which means that Roberto is a busy guy. Almost impossibly busy, I would say, between the family's farm, the mill he runs, and the cooperative he manages.

One evening, sitting outside his office and waiting for him to finish another 14-hour day of work, I decided that he's like that friend who never returns your calls, EVER, but yet somehow always makes you feel, whenever you're together, that you are still the one who benefits more from the relationship. I have learned so much from Roberto's observations on everything from co-operatives to compost to cupping protocol over these past few years that I would be a fool not to wait, no matter how many hours.

On that note, I hope you enjoy the photo set's brief glimpse at some of the most interesting farms – and people – I know!

In pursuit of our CUPS goal of carbon neutrality by 2015, Counter Culture Coffee is trying to shrink our carbon footprint by using less: less paper, less packaging, less gasoline, and less electricity. Estimates of coffee’s seed-to-cup carbon footprint vary greatly: anywhere from two to eight pounds of carbon dioxide per pound of coffee. No matter how it’s measured, analyses show that the final stage in coffee’s lifecycle – brewing – is responsible for a large portion of that footprint.

While we continue to work on reducing the number of miles we drive and the electricity we use at our facilities, and as our grower partners continue practicing sustainable agriculture and working to reduce the energy they use on their farms, we encourage each of you to reduce your, and your cup of coffee's, carbon footprint. As of today, we added five simple, yet effective green brewing tips on our Brewing Guide page to help you avoid wasting energy and resources while brewing a delicious-tasting cup of coffee!